Prompt Shorts
by pitchpearlgirl
Summary: I've hit a bit of a writing block, so I found a prompt generator. These are the ficlets that resulted. There will be ten, one a day. Multitude of characters, ships, genres, and probably AUs too, so be warned. EDIT: Changed to only five. I've regained my inspiration.
1. Chapter 1

I know I should be working on Amnesia, but I've hit a block. I decided to find this random fanfic plot generator and write out a few shorts to try and push myself past it. I made it into a kind of challenge for myself: write one a day, with different prompts from the generator.

Today's was "A major protagonist's partner is carrying the other's child". I decided to go with Mark and Courtney because honestly, after all they've gone through? I ship them.

* * *

Courtney stared down at the small, unassuming, piece of plastic, and felt her world crumble. That tiny little plus sign, so innocent-looking. It meant something far greater than what it showed, and to Courtney Chetwynde, it meant the end of her life.

A positive pregnancy test.

She shuddered, and the shock began to set in. She crumpled up the wrapper and finished her business, before wandering numbly into her room. Her phone sat on the dresser, and she grabbed it as she plopped down on a beanbag chair. She stared at it, knowing what she had to do, but dreading it all the same. She had to call the father.

Courtney honestly hadn't expected something this big from that night with Mark. They'd been at Mark's house a few weeks ago, talking about Bobby's newest journal, and Courtney got emotional. She missed him _so terribly_ , and poured out her heart and feelings to him. He had comforted her, and in turn shared his worries about their friend. The two had grown so close these past couple years, and Courtney found herself wanting to spend more and more time with Mark, outside of the quest to save Halla. In a moment of weakness that night, she kissed him. She felt horribly guilty, like she was cheating on Bobby, but she justified it with his growing feelings for Loor. If he was allowed to fall in love with someone else, so was she. Besides, it's not like they were actively dating, his 'saving the universe' and all that.

She kissed Mark, and he kissed back. The stress from the new journal and all the shit they'd been through was enough for them to look for a release of some sort. They found it in each other. The next morning Courtney left without a word, Mark's parents used to her spending the night already, and hid out in her room. Mark didn't try and contact her, having to sort through his own feelings. A week later, they resumed their friendship without talking about it. Courtney discovered her confidence only went so far, and confronting her best friend about an accidental one-night stand wasn't covered. They pretended it never happened, and everything went along fine.

Courtney had woken up this morning sick, and rushed to the toilet to empty her stomach. She told her parents not to worry, that it was probably just something bad she ate the night before. They let it go, but she had her doubts. Later that afternoon, when she finally got a moment alone, Courtney snuck into her parents' bathroom and stole one of her mom's blank pregnancy tests. She had hoped against hope that she was wrong in her fears, but her prayers were ignored.

She was pregnant.

She was scared.

Courtney lifted her phone and stared at the screen. 4:15 pm, it read. Her hand was shaking. She flipped it open. How would she tell him? Hey Mark, great news! I'm pregnant with your child at sixteen! How about that! Want to help plan the baby shower? His poor little heart would give out, and she'd be alone. Hell, she'll probably be alone no matter how she tells him; Mark doesn't know how to care for a baby! Now that she thinks about it, neither does she.

What was she going to do? She couldn't care for a child while still in high school. She'd have to drop out. Or put the kid up for adoption. Courtney didn't think she could bear through the pains of carrying a child to term, and- god, the birth! Was abortion an option? No, no matter what she did, Courtney didn't think she could do that.

She took a deep breath, and made a decision. She'd call Mark, and they'd figure this out together. And if he bailed on her, she'd find him and wrestle him into helping fix this mess they made. Courtney pressed the speed dial, and waited.

He answered tentatively after four rings. "H-hello?" He probably wasn't used to people actually calling him.

"Hey," Courtney's voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. "Hey, nerd."

"Courtney!" he exclaimed. "How are you?"

Her heart raced at what she was about to say. She had to get it out though. He had to know.

"I, uh, have something I need to tell you," she began. "I-" Her throat closed up. She felt her eyes sting as what happened finally caught up to her.

"Courtney? You okay?" Mark asked.

She took another deep breath to try and calm herself and the tears starting to drip down her face. "I-I'm fine. I just, I just need to tell you something."

"Okay," he said. Worry had crept slightly into his voice. "Shoot."

Courtney couldn't do this. Not over the phone. "I need to tell you in person. Could you come over?" She managed to keep her voice at least partially steady.

"Um, yeah. Sure. Be over in a few." Mark hung up.

"I'm sorry," Courtney whispered into the dead receiver. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

Ehehe have a little angst.

These are gonna be a myriad of different pairings, just fyi. Whichever fits best. Or if none fit best, there will be none. Depends on the prompt.

See ya tomorrow!


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry this one's a lot later in the day. It almost counts as a day late, but no! I made it! Take that! I'm not sleep deprived! There is no war in a Ba Sing Se!

I actually got a different prompt for today, but found myself investing a little too much time and effort into it, so it'll end up a lot longer than I first planned. I'll post it as tomorrow's instead, and give you what was supposed to be tomorrow's! The prompt was "A major protagonist suddenly dies", and honestly, I had way too much fun.

It takes place in a universe where, in Black Water, Bobby and Kasha missed the lake when the gig was crashing.

 **Edit:** Went through and fixed a bunch of glarong spelling mistakes. That's what happens when you type out a story on an iPad; the touchscreen screws up.

* * *

Bobby woke up screaming.

He clutched head, chest heaving, choked sobs escaping his trembling lips. Phantom pains wracked his body, forcing him to curl in on himself. His thoughts scattered. He had no idea where he was, what happened. After a minute, his heartbeat calmed enough for him to look around.

He was in a vast, empty, landscape. The ground was plain dark grey rock and stretched on for miles. Thick mist floated low to the ground in patches, so his vision was obscured in places and clear in others. He looked up. The sky was crystal clear, with a smattering of bright stars. Colorful lights flashed above, too quick for him to understand their shape. He didn't recognize this place. He'd never been here before.

Hurried footsteps from behind Bobby had him shooting to his feet and spinning around. The sudden movement sent his head spinning, and he looked down to gain his balance back. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and opened his clenched eyes to see who this person was. He gasped.

Uncle Press. The one man he never thought he'd see again. His absolute shock must've been evident on his face because the older man smirked slightly, before returning to the worried checking-over of his nephew.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Press said. He lifted Bobby's chin and pat down his arms to check for broken bones. Bobby just stood there, staring. "You're not supposed to be here," he continued

Bobby's senses finally kicked in. " _I'm_ not supposed to be here? _You're_ supposed to be dead!" he shouted. Despite this, he flung himself into the man's arms. "I never thought I'd see you again..."

Press seemed to hesitate a moment, before gently returning the hug. Bobby felt his eyes sting. It had been _so long_. Last he saw of his uncle, he was being lowered into his grave on Cloral. This sudden unexplainable reappearance was almost too much.

"I'm serious, Bobby," Press said after a moment, "What happened? You're not supposed to be here, not yet."

Bobby pulled back and wiped his eyes. He thought a moment, trying to pull back the memories before he woke here in this strange place. As if a switch was thrown, a flood of memories hit him.

He and Kasha were supposed to be rushing to Black Water! They were on their way, clouds had covered the sunbelt, and the gig lost power. They aimed to crash into a pond, but missed by a couple of feet. He remembered screaming, spinning out of control faster and faster towards the ground when suddenly- black. And pain. Lots of pain. That's when he woke up.

His adrenaline spiked at the memory, and he jolted out of Uncle Press's grasp. "W-what happened? I was with Kasha, and we were flying, and we crashed, and-" He looked around wildly, half expecting to see the black klee. "Where is she?" Then it hit him, like a blow to the chest.

"Wait, am I dead?"

Press's guilty look to the side probably should have told him, but the shock must have been too much to comprehend at first. He stared, openmouthed, and tried to wrap his mind around the fact that he was, in fact, dead. He died in that crash. He died. _Bobby_ _died_. He felt lightheaded. Could you feel lightheaded if you were dead? He sure did.

"If, if I d-" his voice caught, "died, then where's Kasha? She was on the gig with me."

Press looked thoughtful for a moment, then said "If she's not here, that means she's not dead. She must still be alive in that wreck."

Bobby shuddered. He didn't want to imagine what kind of damage would be done to her body in that bad a crash. They'd been heading towards the ground at near full throttle.

"But that's not the point." Press interrupted his musings. "You're not supposed to be here. You can't die yet."

Bobby was seriously confused. "What do you mean? Is there a certain time people are supposed to die?" he asked.

"Not usually," Press admitted. "Usually people die when they die. There's no pattern. But you, you can't die yet. You're too important."

"Gee, thanks. I feel special," Bobby said sarcastically.

"You should. You are so incredibly important to the future of everything that is, that ever will be." He smiled. "You are our future."

Bobby felt his spirits lift slightly, but it was soon dampened by a thought. "Well, what are we gonna do? It's not like I can do anything now. You can't revive me. I'm dead." It still felt strange saying that. He didn't think it was something he would ever feel comfortable saying.

"Actually..." Bobby looked back at his uncle, whose smirk had returned.

"Seriously?"

"We can't have our star player tagging out this early in the game now, can we?" Uncle Press too a step back and looked at his nephew sadly. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this. You're far too young to have to experience the pain of death."

"Wait, you're actually serious about this? You can bring me back from the dead?" Bobby's head was nearly sent spinning again. All the shock from the past few minutes was gonna give him an ulcer or something.

"Pretty much." He raised his hand. "Now, be prepared for a lot of pain. All I can do is heal the fatal wounds, but you'll still have a bunch of other extremely painful non-fatal injuries."

"Wait, right now? I still have a lot of questions, like where are we, and how you're gonna heal me, and-"

"And we don't have time for those questions," his uncle smoothly interrupted. "You need to get back to saving Black Water and the gars from Saint Dane. I'm sorry Bobby, but you won't remember any of this place or our conversation. It's for the best. It's too early."

"But wait-" Bobby lunged forward.

Press Tilton snapped his fingers, and the world went black.

Bobby woke up screaming.


	3. Chapter 3

Aw man look at this monster. Seventeen pages. _Seventeen_. Kill me now.

Idk if it gets rambly or not, and at this point I don't care. Take it. Take it away from me. I give up.

I don't know when in the series it takes place, but it's after the Quillian Games so Nevva's here. Also ignore the thing where Saint Dane's hair burned up. I will never admit that happened.

Sorry this is two days late guys, I was in Chattanooga for the weekend. Plus exams start today. And I was being nice to myself saying I could do these once a day. Let's just change it so that it's once every couple of days.

This is getting long, so just. Just take it. I have grown fond of this thing so take it from me before I get too attached.

 **EDIT:** CRAP I FORGOT TO LIST THE PROMPT: A major holiday comes along and hijacks ensue.

* * *

" _Deck the halls with boughs of holly,_

 _Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la._

 _'Tis the season to be jolly,_

 _Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-"_

"Cut the crap, boys."

Bobby and Spader dissolved into giggles and pushed through the doorway. Courtney shook her head and closed the door behind them. She followed them into the kitchen, where Mark was preparing eggnog. Bobby swiped the cream carton from Mark and took a chug.

"Did you teach Spader that song just for this?" Courtney asked. Bobby swallowed and had the good grace to look sheepish. Spader just grinned widely, before taking the carton from Bobby and taking a drink too.

"Hey!" Mark protested. "I need that!" Spader handed it back to him and wiped his mouth, laughing when Mark turned it upside down and it was empty. "You better be glad I have extra," he grumbled, grabbing another carton from the fridge. He shooed Bobby off the counter, where he'd jumped up to sit.

"That's not all the songs he taught me!" Spader said. He put his hand on his heart and took a deep breath.

" _Jingle bells,_

 _Batman smells,_

 _Robin laid an egg!_

 _The Batmobile,_

 _Lost a-"_

Bobby shoved a hand over his mouth to stop him and laughed awkwardly. "Yeah... Spader? Sorry bud, but that's not the right version of the song."

He pushed the hand off, and looked at Bobby confused. "But that's the one you were singing...?"

"Nope!" Bobby interrupted him. "No, it isn't! You must've heard it somewhere else. I don't know what you're talking about!" He pat his friend's back and walked out of the kitchen. "So, where are the others?"

Courtney figured he must mean the other Travelers they invited. "Not here yet," she said. "Should be any minute now though." Bobby walked back into the room with a bunch of reindeer antler headbands and tossed one to her and Spader. She put hers on and watched as he snuck up behind Mark, before throwing it on his head when he wasn't paying attention. Mark yelped, almost dropping the egas he'd been holding, and turned to glare at the laughing teens.

The jingly ring of the doorbell alerted them to new arrivals. "In here!" Courtney called. A moment later, Loor and Alder walked in, bedecked in the cheesy Christmas sweaters Mark and Courtney had left at the flume. Loor looked vaguely uncomfortable, while Alder just looked excited.

"Someone's missing," Bobby noted. "Where's Aja?"

Loor shook her head and said "She would not come. Apparently there is a new batch of deaths on Veelox, and she refused to leave her post for even a night."

Spader shrugged. "Ah well. She woulda brought the party down anyways with her nagging."

Loor tugged at the edge of her gaudy green sweater. It had little snowmen designs on it. "Do you have any other garments I could use? This sweater is stifling." Mark nodded and set the spoon he'd been stirring the eggnog with down. He wiped his hands on a dish towel and left for his parent's room.

As soon as he left the room, Bobby reached in a bag slung across his back and pulled out a bottle. He grinned conspiratorially at the others, and poured it in the eggnog mixture.

"What are you doing?" Alder asked. Courtney sighed and Bobby laughed.

"Don't tell Mark, but on our way here, Spader and I stopped by a store. I know the guy who works there, and he mighta slipped me a little... something special for the holidays." He shook the now empty bottle in front of them; Courtney saw it was some kind of rum. "Only let me have one to split among us, but it'll be enough for tonight. Give this boring party some buzz."

"So long as we all clean up before my parents get back tomorrow night, I don't care what you just slipped in my eggnog," came Mark's voice from the doorway. He stood with his arms crossed, glaring good-naturedly at his best friend, who once again avoided his gaze. Mark pushed off from the doorframe and handed Loor a change of clothes. "Here. Here's a tank top and some shorts. Just make sure you put the sweater and pants back on before you leave the house or you'll freeze."

Loor took it with a nod of thanks and left the room to change. Mark took his spoon and stirred the new mixture. He took the punch bowl and set it on the right side of the island counter, then turned to the fridge and pulled out a stack of large pieces of gingerbread. Bobby whistled.

"My mom and I baked these yesterday in preparation for tonight," Mark said. "She knew I'd want to make one with you guys."

"One of what?" Alder asked, confused.

"Gingerbread house!" Bobby cheered. Courtney smiled widely and grabbed the icing and candies out of the pantry. She'd been over at Mark's house so often that she knew where everything was now. Her and Mark started setting everything up while Bobby excitedly explained what gingerbread houses were to Spader and Alder, who looked intrigued. Loor walked in and joined them in listening, setting the folded up sweater on the table.

Courtney was tasked with cutting the house shapes out of the gingerbread, seeing as she had the steadiest hand out of the people who actually knew the shapes needed. Mark got Loor and Spader mixing the different food coloring a into different bowls of icing, and Bobby went looking for Mark's record player. He had one stashed somewhere around here with a bunch of vinyl records, and Bobby was determined to find it. Alder just wandered around and had to get shooed away from every sweet-smelling food item set out. Mark himself pulled out his phone and started looking up different designs for the gingerbread house.

A knock on the door interrupted the happy atmosphere. Mark and Courtney looked at each other, confused.

"Did you invite anyone else?" Courtney asked.

Mark shook his head. "C-come in?" he called. The door opened and closed, and whoever it was walked into the kitchen. As soon as they entered, the entire kitchen exploded in activity.

Loor snatched the broom from where it had been resting against the counter and held it out like her stave. Alder grabbed a knife from the wall and brandished it like a sword. Mark screamed, and Courtney dropped into a fighting stance. Only one of the two people who had just entered reacted, jumping back slightly and holding her hands up to cover her face.

There was a tense moment of silence, before a shout of triumph came from another room. Bobby strode back into the kitchen with a modern record player case in his arms. He sat it on the table, completely oblivious to the new arrivals, until he looked up at Courtney. She didn't move her eyes from the two in the doorway. Bobby followed her gaze, and yelped.

"Saint Dane?!" he squeaked, hitting his knee on the counter in shock. He looked around and noticed his friends' fighting stances (and Mark's cowering). "W-what are you doing here?"

"Why, thank you for acknowledging my existence as well, Pendragon," Nevva Winter said, sneering. "I came bearing gifts, but now I don't think I want to give them out."

"Why should we trust gifts from either of you?" Loor said, her defense unwavering.

Nevva scoffed and walked right up to the table the gingerbread items were on. She set her bag next to it and turned to Saint Dane, who hadn't moved from the doorway. "Come on, old man. You have gifts too. Come set them down."

The Travelers and acolytes watched dumbstruck, as Saint Dane - their worst enemy, the most powerful and evil demon in the universe - actually _groaned_ and dropped his bag on the floor, before plopping down on one of the bar stools and putting his chin in his hands like a child. He glared off to the side, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Anyone mind telling me what the hell just happened?" Bobby demanded. Nevva turned to him and everyone snapped back into their fighting stances, having been put off by the demon's apparent tantrum.

"Simple," she said. "I heard the Travelers were putting together a Christmas party, and I wanted to go. I forced Mister Grumpy Pants here to come with, but also had to force him to promise not to destroy any territories or kill anybody for the entirety of the night. He didn't want to, but I made him. End of story." She clapped her gloved hands together, and said "I heard there was also eggnog. Where?" She started digging through the cabinets, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that most everyone in the room was primed to attack.

"Wait, what?" Courtney couldn't believe it. What she said didn't compute.

Saint Dane sighed, which made her jump, and glared at her. "Didn't you hear her, impudent girl? She forced me to come to this despised party full of our mortal enemies, despite not having been invited. She also asked where the - undoubtedly spiked - eggnog is." He stood up and snatched his bag off the floor, sending another death glare at Nevva's turned back. " _And_ she made me get things for you. She apparently doesn't understand the term _mortal enemies_ all that well."

As he dug through the bag, grumbling to himself, the Travelers, Mark, and Courtney huddled together on the opposite side of the table from the other two. They made sure to keep an eye on them, as they discussed what was to be done.

"We should attack them," said Loor immediately.

"W-well, we should probably get them outside first," Mark interjected. "Mom would kill me if the house got destroyed, inter-dimensional battle or not."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "There are much more pressing matters at hand than keeping your house tidy, Mark," she said pointedly. "Like the fact that our two worst enemies in _all of time and space_ are in the kitchen 'bearing gifts'."

They turned to watch Nevva apparently scolding Saint Dane, several small, poorly-wrapped packages in a pile on the floor. He crossed his arms and towered over her, but her attitude made him seem like a small child.

"He looks whipped," Bobby noted. Everyone shot looks of surprise at him. "What? It's true," he said. "She's got him under her thumb." He shook his head at the scene. "It's kinda pathetic, really."

"I do not think we should trust them," Alder said cautiously.

"Yeah, I wouldn't trust those two wogglies any farther than I could throw them," Spader agreed.

"You are smart to not trust us." Nevva suddenly appeared next to the group, startling them. "But you have my word that nothing will happen. We had a holiday very similar to this on Quillian, and I was rather fond of it. I'd like to celebrate it again, even if it is with you. I'll not let anything spoil the evening." She looked to Saint Dane, who'd gone back to sulking and picking at scrap pieces of gingerbread. "Even him."

The relaxed air from earlier had all but disappeared, with everyone being on guard. Mark tried to coax Loor and Spader back into mixing different icings, but Loor refused to put the broom down and Spader abandoned it when Courtney pulled the chilled eggnog out of the fridge. Mark gave up and started fixing things himself. Spader pulled out a bunch of cups from the cabinet and a ladle from the drawer, before spooning out some eggnog for himself and Bobby. He tried to hand it to his friend, but Bobby was still staring numbly at Saint Dane, so he gave it to Alder instead.

Alder looked confused for a second, but Spader told him "Just drink it, mate. You won't regret it."

Nevva poked at the record player on the counter, her glass of eggnog that she'd made in hand. "What is this contraption?"

Bobby snapped out of his stupor and pulled it away from her. "Don't touch that."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Not yours."

"Technically it's not yours either, Pendragon," she said with her free hand on her hip.

"Mark is my best friend, so his stuff's mine by default."

"Hey! I heard that, jerk."

Bobby flashed him a grin and said "You love me anyways."

Mark grumbled and went back to mixing furiously.

Nevva wasn't put off. "What does it do?" she asked, going to poke it again. Bobby pulled it out of reach again.

"It plays music, but I need to find the records first."

"Well then!" Nevva pulled her gloves and coat off and set them on the stool next to Saint Dane. "Let's go look for them, shall we?" She walked out of the room.

Bobby chased after her into the living room with a shout of protest. "What are you doing? You can't just go randomly wandering someone's house like that!"

She shrugged nonchalantly and started opening doors on the entertainment center. Bobby watched her carefully. She would pull out a couple DVDs, or books, or games, look behind them, the put them back in exactly the same spot. After going through two of the cabinets, she turned to Bobby and said "You could help, you know. Instead of watching me like I'm about to destroy something."

"I..." Bobby didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think of anything that happened recently. It was too much. He sat down heavily and started looking through one of the larger cabinets.

After a few minutes of searching, Nevva spoke. "We're not going to do anything. I promised we'd be on good behavior, and I aim to keep that promise. You guys can relax."

Bobby sighed, taking his reindeer headband off and fiddling with it. "I understand," he said, "but it's still hard to wrap my mind around. Why are you two here, with us of all people?"

Nevva smiled sadly. "Believe it or not, I actually like Christmas. It was my favorite holiday back home, even though we weren't allowed to celebrate it. My mother, Elli... She would always somehow manage to sneak some cookies home for us when I was younger. I never found out where she got them. After she started drifting away, I tried to keep the tradition by myself, but it was hard. This is the first time I've celebrated Christmas in six years."

"But why spend it with us? We're all enemies," Bobby said, confused.

"I'd rather spend it with people I know, yet hate, than by myself." She chuckled. "Saint Dane doesn't count. He's terrible at hosting parties."

Bobby laughed and put his headband back on. "Yeah, I imagine he would be." He reached behind a stack of CDs and pulled out some dusty vinyl cases. "Found them."

"Hoo-rah." Nevva stood up and dusted her dress off. She looked at Bobby, and smiled again. "Let's go have fun, before we're at each other's throats again tomorrow."

The happy moment was made brief by a shout of anger from the kitchen. They dashed in to find Loor being held back by Alder and Courtney. Saint Dane looked enraged and had a cup pointed at her, as if it were a weapon. Everyone else was just standing around, looking shocked.

"What happened?!" demanded Nevva. She looked at Dane pointedly.

"It's not my fault!" He protested, jerking his cup towards Loor. "I stood up to get some of this strange drink everyone's so fond of, and she attacked me!"

Loor struggled and pulled out of their grasp. She glared at the demon and threw her broom down, stomping out of the room. There was silence, until Mark broke it.

"Let's just... give her a few minutes to calm down," he said. He figured since no one else was being sociable, it was time for him to at least try. _Can't believe I'm doing this_. He picked up the ladle from the bowl and offered it to Saint Dane. "D-do you w-want some?" he stuttered.

Said demon paused, shocked that someone would willingly offer him something that wasn't poison . "Uh..." For once, he seemed actually speechless. "Yes, please?"

Mark breathed out a sigh of relief and poured some eggnog in the dumbstruck man's glass. His hand shook as he set the spoon down. _Small victories, I guess_. He looked around at his friends who were staring at him with similarly shocked expressions. "What?"

Bobby shrugged and went to the record player on the table. He handed the records to Nevva to free his hands, and picked up the player. There was a small side table just inside the kitchen door, and Bobby set the record player on it, out of the way. He opened it and started setting it up as Nevva watched, intrigued. Christmas music filled the crowded room.

The nervous atmosphere soon lifted as people relaxed, helped along by the spiked eggnog. Eventually they got back to making the gingerbread house. Nevva was a surprisingly good help with the house itself, and even helped add on walls with the extra materials, making it more of a gingerbread mansion than a house. Saint Dane refused to help, but after a couple glasses of eggnog to loosen him up, he joined them in decorating.

Loor came back in when they were almost done and swiped a glass of eggnog, downing it in one gulp. Spader clapped her on the back, laughing heartily, having already have four cups, and refilled it. Soon the two were chatting aimlessly, Loor finally comfortable enough to smile around the two enemies of Halla.

From there things got interesting. At some point someone switched out the Christmas music playing on the record player with Disney music on an iPod. Mark swears to this day that it was Saint Dane, but he's too terrified to say anything.

Spader, who'd gotten introduced to Disney at Mark and Bobby's insistence, abandoned the gingerbread house and started singing 'Hakuna Matata' when it came on. Bobby joined in, and Saint Dane further proved that he wasn't as bad as he seemed by singing Simba's part. Courtney saw what was going on and decided filming this party was the best decision she ever made.

The song suddenly stopped, and everyone groaned. Alder raised his hand sheepishly and said "Sorry." He'd bumped into the table and accidentally skipped the song. The next one made everyone perk up though.

"I Just Can't Wait to be King!" Bobby exclaimed. "Okay Spader, watch me nail this one." He prepared himself as the first verses started.

" _I'm gonna be a mighty king,_

 _So enemies beware!"_

Everyone erupted in cheers as Saint Dane interrupted him. Bobby stared and started laughing as the demon, clearly inebriated, stood up and sung his lungs out. Bobby decided to play along, and joined in.

" _I've never seen a king or beast_

 _With quite so little hair"_

Saint Dane swatted Bobby hand away from his hair, and bared his teeth.

" _I'm gonna be the main event,_

 _Like no king was before!_

 _I'm brushing up on looking down,_

 _And working on my roar!"_

He pounced at Bobby with his hands curled into claws. Bobby laughed and ducked, singing.

" _Thus far a rather uninspiring thing..."_

 _"Oh I just can't wait, to be king!"_

Dane spun around and grabbed Nevva, who'd just come in from the living room, where she went to set the presents down under the tree. He pointed to Bobby.

" _No one saying do this,"_

 _"Now when I said that-"_

Nevva caught on and sang:

" _No one saying be there,"_

Bobby looked mock-frustrated.

" _What I meant was-"_

 _"No one saying stop that,"_

 _"Now what you don't realize-"_

Saint Dane and Nevva sang in harmony, as Bobby shouted.

" _No one saying see here!"_

 _"NOW SEE HERE!"_

Nevva laughed as Dane continued, dashing around and away from Bobby, who was chasing him.

" _Free to run around all day,_

 _We can do it all my way!"_

Bobby cornered him and poked him in the chest, singing his next verse.

" _I think it's time, that you and I,_

 _Arranged a hear to heart."_

Nevva popped over his shoulder and flicked his nose.

" _Kings don't need advice,_

 _From little hornbills for a start!"_

He shrugged her off and backed up.

" _If this is where the monarchy is headed,_

 _Count me out!"_

He stalked away waving his hand behind himself, followed by the two.

" _Out of service, out of Africa,_

 _I wouldn't hang about!"_

He ran up to Courtney, still filming, and shook her shoulders.

" _This child is getting wildly out of wiiiing!"_

Dane slung an arm around Bobby's shoulder.

" _Oh I just can't wait,_

 _To be king!"_

Courtney laughed at the two as they kept singing. Who'd have thought that a little spiked eggnog could make the hatred go away, if even for a night. Everyone was acting so silly, you wouldn't believe that only the day before they were trying to kill each other. She sighed; this peace and friendliness would be gone by tomorrow. Saint Dane was actually pretty fun to hang around, when he wasn't hell-bent on turning a territory towards chaos.

When the song ended, the three - Nevva, Saint Dane, and Bobby - collapsed on the couch in the living room, where everyone had moved into. They were breathless from singing and laughter. Everyone cheered and clapped at their performance, and Spader gave them each new glasses of eggnog. They toasted, "To Halla!" and drank.

During the following conversation, Bobby learned that while they were singing, Loor got drunk and started truling to everybody. It came as such a surprise, he almost choked on his drink. _Apparently she is the huggy type after all, after you get a few drinks in her,_ he thought. She had tried to force Alder onto the couch to cuddle with him, and had to be sent to bed to sleep off some of the alcohol before she turned to molesting anybody.

Mark had taken it upon himself to put the finishing touches on the gingerbread house after everyone ditched it to watch the Disney sing-off. It now sat proudly on the countertop, a strange mix of decorations and stuff from several people with different tastes. They planned to eat it the next morning, while opening presents together.

"But wait, that would mean you two would have to stay longer than just tonight?" Bobby said. He kind of hoped they would, and prolong the inevitable return to hatred. He was having fun, believe it or not, and didn't want it to end.

Nevva and Saint Dane looked at each other. "I guess we will," Nevva said.

Dane nodded, and smiled. "You don't want to get rid of us that soon, do you?" Bobby laughed and pushed him playfully.

Courtney grinned at the two again. They were being cute. She didn't know what that meant for any of them, but she kinda hoped it was just the alcohol. Good thing she avoided drinking too much of the eggnog; she wanted to remember this night clearly. Mark walked up next to her, having finished cleaning up in the kitchen.

"Ooooooh, look who's under the mistletoe!" Bobby suddenly shouted gleefully. He was pointing at Courtney. Her head shot up, and she groaned. She was, indeed, under some plastic mistletoe that somebody had hung up. She stiffened, realizing the other person under it with her was Mark.

"Oh god," he whispered. He'd realized it too. Courtney looked at him, seeing that he was blushing furiously.

"What is the problem?" Alder asked. He was sprawled on an armchair, a piece of leftover gingerbread in his hand. "What does that plant do?"

"It means whoever is caught under it has to kiss!" Nevva replied. She leaned forward in her seat.

Alder laughed at Mark and Courtney's matching mortified expressions. "Well then," he boomed. "You can't disappoint us!"

They started chanting. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Courtney figured it was a small price to pay and quickly leaned forward, giving Mark a peck on the lips. He jumped. He hadn't actually expected her to do it. Courtney laughed and winked at him. Mark felt like he was going to faint. To be kissed by the Courtney Chetwynde was an honor, only bestowed upon a select few. He glanced at Bobby too see if it was fine. Bobby grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Then Mark saw something that made the evening go from good to great.

"L-looks like I'm not the only one!" he laughed. Bobby looked confused, and even more so when everyone followed Mark's gaze to what was hanging over Bobby's head, suspended from a string, and in Spader's hand. While everyone was watching Mark and Courtney, Spader had snuck up behind the couch Bobby, Nevva, and Saint Dane were sitting on. Bobby slowly raised his gaze.

Hanging from Spader's fingers was another sprig of mistletoe.

Bobby looked from side to side. Nevva and Saint Dane were sitting on either side of him; he didn't know which one it indicated. Everyone else noticed this, and looked to Spader.

"Hmm..." Spader realized he had quite the choice to make. He had the power in his hands to choose who Bobby had to kiss. This would be interesting. He swung it back and forth above he trio, deciding.

"I choose... You!" Laughter from everyone as the mistletoe finally settled above Saint Dane. The demon in question looked scandalized, and opened his mouth to say something, no doubt curse them into oblivion.

At this point, Bobby had had enough rum-filled eggnog so that he knew he would have a raging headache in the morning. He would probably get killed for this, but he'd had enough alcohol to throw caution to the wind.

The room erupted in cheers as Bobby tackled his arch-nemesis. Nevva pulled out a disposable camera and joined Courtney in taking pictures for blackmail. Saint Dane yelped as he found himself with a lapfull of Bobby Pendragon, who began thoroughly snogging him. If Bobby was going to regret this night, he might as well go all out. He twirled his fingers through Dane's long hair and yanked, earning a startled half-moan from his adversary. This earned some hoots and whistles from is friends, mostly Spader and Courtney. Mark and Alder were too busy blushing and averting their gazes.

After about a minute of this, Bobby pulled away. Saint Dane blinked his eyes open, his lips kiss-swollen and his cheeks red. He cleared his throat.

"Well... Uh..."

Bobby laughed and pushed off of him, settling back on the couch at his side. "Chill out, old man. It's just a little make-out session. Isn't that a thing you do with your enemies?" Bobby was definitely intoxicated.

"H-how about we watch a movie?" Mark said, trying to diffuse the sexual tension in the room. He didn't want his best friend and the enemy of the universe making any bad decisions tonight, especially not on _his_ couch.

"Mark, it's eleven thirty," Courtney said.

"So? It's not like we have school tomorrow."

A chorus of agreements answered. "Movie it is," Courtney relented. "What are we gonna watch?"

They ended up going through Netflix, trying to find the perfect Christmas film to watch. After reading the summaries of a couple, Nevva wanted to watch 'Miracle on 34th Street', but Bobby rejected it cause it was too cheesy for him. Alder said yes to every clay-mation movie that came up, especially 'Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer'. Also rejected.

Finally, they settled on the animated version on 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. Bobby insisted Saint Dane would love the Grinch, which got him a bunch of laughs from the people who'd seen it before, and confused looks from those who hadn't.

They settled down to watch it; Nevva, Saint Dane, and Bobby on the couch, Alder, Courtney, and Mark in various chairs, and Spader on the floor against the couch. Mark had gotten up and made some popcorn while everyone was choosing the movie, and the chairs and couch all got moved closer together so everyone could share. Spader flicked pieces of popcorn high in the air for Bobby to try and catch, but he kept missing and getting them everywhere. By the twentieth piece, Saint Dane had to yell at him to stop it cause he had popcorn all in his hair. Spader kept flicking popcorn at the demon though, and made it into a game of 'irritate the all-powerful demon'.

By the end of the movie, almost everyone had passed out. Enough activity followed by copious amounts of alcohol does that to people. No one bothered to clean up, and no one was bothered by the fact that they were all cuddled up together. The only two who were still awake at the end were Saint Dane, for being enraptured by the movie, and Nevva, out of sheer stubbornness.

While the credits were rolling, Dane turned to say something to Bobby, only to discover the boy had fallen asleep against his side. He smiled and pushed a stray strand of hair behind Bobby's ear. Bobby sighed and snuggled closer to the demon.

Nevva giggled, which startled Saint Dane, as he thought she was asleep. He glared at her half-heartedly, sleep pulling at the edges of his eyes.

"We should do this more often," Nevva whispered.

"I agree," Saint Dane replied just as quietly. "I admit, you were right when you said it'd be fun."

Nevva smiled fondly at her partner. "You don't say that nearly as much as you should."

Saint Dane hummed, and closed his eyes.

"If only."

* * *

I didn't know how to end it, so I just threw that here. Whatever. I'm tired of looking at this thing.

I swear, I'm gonna learn how to animate just so I can animate that scene where they're singing 'I Just Cant Wait to be King'. I almost died from laughter writing it. I would be able to convey how funny it's supposed to be through animation.

Now off to go fail my history exam


	4. Chapter 4

After that monstrous 4500+ chapter yesterday I decided to take this one easy.

The prompt was 'Two or more characters play a board game one stormy night'. Originally I wanted them to play Cards AGainst Humanity, but I didn't know how to write people playing that game. Next time I play it I'll write down all the cards that are played and incorporate that in inot the story. It might be Pendragon, might not. Depends on what cards are played.

ALSO I FINALLY REGAINED INSPIRATION FOR AMNESIA SO GUESS WHAT WILL BE UPDATED SOMETIME IN THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS. That means this is gonna be cut short. I really enjoyed doing this and might do it again in the future. Don't worry, there's still one more of these oneshots left, and then it'll be over.

* * *

Bobby vowed, from this day forward, to never again play another board game with Loor.

Especially Monopoly.

Ever.

The reasoning for this? After she got the hang of the game, she wiped the board with his ass. Despite coming from a culture that wasn't quite this advanced yet, Loor was fricken amazing at all the skills it took to be good at Monopoly. Bobby debated the merits of starting a small business with her once all this Halla-protecting stuff was over. She could run everything and manage it fine on her own. She could also be the night guard. Whatever. Probably not, but man, with how good she was, he wondered why she hadn't already figured this stuff out on Zadaa.

She had kicked him out in the first couple rounds, then set to bankrupting Spader and Courtney. Mark joined him a round later, having also sucked royally.

"Never would have thought she'd be this good," Mark had said, voicing Bobby's thoughts.

"Yeah." Bobby watched her stoically take over the board as Courtney groaned; she'd finally had to give up Boardwalk. Bobby had felt himself grow warm with pride for Loor.

That was about a half hour ago. Since then they'd started another round, but with a new member who dropped by. Aja. She had said she'd been stressed out from her continued upkeep of the Lifelight pyramids and decided to take a short break. She came here to Second Earth to see what they were doing, and found them about to start again. Apparently there was a game similar on Veelox, of which Aja'd been fond of during the Academy. She joined in, feeling pretty confident in her skills, and expecting a fun evening.

All hell broke loose.

Loor was competitive, obviously. It was in her nature. Aja wasn't quite as competitive, but she had an ego. That ego took a minor beating when she discovered that she wasn't the best anymore. She now had competition for first place, something she wasn't used to. And she was determined.

It started out with petty insults to each other's intelligence. That devolved into flicking board pieces at each other. Bobby, Spader, Mark, and Courtney eventually just bailed out, and left the board to be battled over by the two. Bobby got everyone drinks, and they settled in to watch the war.

The flicking soon turned into full-on hurling, and the game itself was nearly abandoned. They each owned half the board, and were going back and forth with the money at this point. It was clear that neither was going to win, but the two women had histories of being stubborn, and neither were ready to admit a draw.

"You already own the most powerful places on the board, why are you so determined to have the brown ones?!"

"They have hotels on them!"

"So do Boardwalk and Park Place! That makes them far more powerful than anything else. Look, I will give you my Leicester, Bow, and Whitechapel instead."

"I refuse!"

"Why do you insist on only those two?"

"To take them from you!"

Bobby sighed. This was a bad idea. Never again.

* * *

I hate playing monopoly. We never get anywhere.

But yeah, I like to imagine Loor as actually pretty intelligent, but she just prefers the physical method instead. Plus there's the thought that Zadaa hasn't advanced in that way yet, at least with the Batu. Hell, I don't think the Rokador are quite there yet. I don't care. I imagine that once Loor gets the hang of things, she's pretty calculating and smart. My story, I can do what I want with the characters.


End file.
